It Runs in the Family
by Brock's Geodude
Summary: When Team Rocket attacks, help comes from an unexpected source. (Tiny bit of shippiness too, bits of several ships here.)


It Runs in the Family  
  
-Disclaimer- I don't own the Pokemon franchise, etc, etc etc... (just to make this look good)...Pokemon is copyright Nintendo, GameFreak, etc, etc, etc...  
  
Having finally reached Lavaridge Town, four travelling friends stopped off at the Pokemon Center to heal their Pokemon before finding the Lavaridge Gym. The leader of the group was fourteen-year-old Ash Ketchum, who dreamed of becoming a Pokemon Master. His close friend, nineteen-year-old Brock Slate, accompanied him. May and Max White rounded off the group; they were twelve and eight respectively.  
  
As usual, Ash was eager to meet the Gym Leader and challenge him or her to a battle. As they were handing their Pokeballs and Pikachu to Nurse Joy, a very familiar voice sounded from behind Ash. "Hi, honey!"  
  
Ash turned around, and received quite a start, because the owner of the voice was none other than his mother, Delia Ketchum! Her Mr. Mime stood next to her, carrying a duffel bag. Recovering quickly, he smiled and greeted her. "Hi, Mom! What are you doing here?"  
  
"I heard about the great hot springs they have up here, so I wanted to come up and see them for myself!" Delia explained cheerfully. "When Professor Oak mentioned that Professor Birch invited him here to study the wild Pokemon in nearby Mount Chimney, I asked him if I could come along, and he said yes."  
  
"Hey, that's great, Mom. We were planning to check that out ourselves after I have my Gym battle."  
  
Brock suddenly jumped in, and grabbed Delia's hands. "Mrs. Ketchum, I would be honored if you would accompany us to the local Gym to watch Ash battle. I'll make sure to save you a seat."  
  
Annoyed, Max grabbed Brock's ear--he had to jump to reach it--and led him away from the older woman. "If she DOES come, she certainly won't be sitting next to YOU."  
  
Delia wasn't sure what to make of that, but Ash spoke up just then before her thoughts could stray too far. "Oh, that's right, you haven't met my new friends yet, have you? This is May, her dad's the Gym Leader of Petalburg City." He pointed to where Max had led Brock away. "And that's her brother, Max. He's too young to be a trainer yet." The emphasis on the word "young" was enough to anger the eight-year-old.  
  
"Hey, at least I know more about Pokemon than you do! Enough not to lose in the championship round of the Silver Conference, anyway!" he yelled.  
  
Ash held out his palms in self-defense. "Hey, calm down, Max, I was just kidding. We resolved all that already."  
  
Max reddened, embarrased. "Right. I knew that."  
  
May giggled. "Suuuure you did."  
  
"So, where is this Professor Oak? And who is he, anyway?" May inquired of Delia.  
  
"Didn't I tell you, May?" Ash was surprised. He had either forgotten to tell her about how much Professor Oak had helped him and his friends in the past, or she had forgotten that he told her. "Professor Oak is the world's leading authority on Pokemon. He has this lab back in Pallet Town where he studies Pokemon. He also keeps the reserve Pokemon of trainers who started their journeys in Pallet Town and have collected more than six."  
  
"Wow, I'd love to meet him!" Max suddenly exclaimed. "He's written a bunch of articles for Pokemon Monthly, I read them all back home in Petalburg! And I've read all his Pokemon haikus too!"  
  
"He sounds pretty famous," said May. "I'd be interested in meeting him too."  
  
Delia smiled sympathetically. "Sorry kids, but he's out with Professor Birch now, they're on their way to Mount Chimney."  
  
May and Max both felt deflated. "Hey, it's ok," Ash consoled them. "Maybe later, when Professor Oak gets back home, we can call him on the video phone and I'll introduce you then."  
  
"You know his phone number?" Max suddenly gained a new respect for Ash.  
  
Ash nodded. "Yep, I've called him lots of times before."  
  
Just then, there was an explosion from the back of the Pokemon Center, where Nurse Joy had just taken Ash, May, and Brock's Pokemon. Then, two familiar maniacal laughs could be heard through the partially closed door behind the reception desk.  
  
"Oh, no..." Ash groaned. Without hesitation, he placed both hands on the desk and launched himself over it, then burst through the door. May, Max, and Brock soon followed. What lay before them was quite a shock. Delia gasped at the sight that stood before her, but the four young people had a pretty good idea of what had just happened. Operating tables, incubators, and various Pokemon Center equipment lay on their sides or upside down. There was a giant hole in the wall directly in front of them, at the other end of the large room. In the center of the opening stood a huge magnet that had been attracting all the Pokeballs in the Pokemon Center to it. In a super-thick glass case next to the magnet stood several Pokemon that had been out of their Pokeballs while recovering. A mechanical arm was perched above the case, and its rubber hand had a firm grip on Ash's Pikachu. Pikachu was crying and struggling, but the rubber hand stopped any electric attacks it tried.  
  
Two figures in Team Rocket uniforms hopped up on top of the case. The sunlight coming in from behind them was blinding, but the group already knew that they were Jessie and James of Team Rocket. As usual, they started their motto:  
  
"Our Pokeball Magnet worked, so prepare for trouble!" recited Jessie.  
  
"We'll attract all the Pokeballs on the double!" added James.  
  
"To protect the world from devastation!"  
  
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"  
  
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"  
  
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"  
  
"Jessie!"  
  
"James!"  
  
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"  
  
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight, fight, fight!"  
  
Meowth hopped up and landed between them. "Meowth, dat's right!"  
  
Wobbuffet popped out of its Pokeball, adding a "Wooo-buffet!!"  
  
"Pikachu!" Ash called. "Are you ok?"   
  
"Pi-iikapi," Pikachu's reply sounded somewhat weak, but otherwise fine. Still, there wasn't much time before Team Rocket made their getaway.  
  
"Give us back our Pokemon right now!" Ash demanded. "And give back those injured Pokemon too!"  
  
"Wouldn't dream of it, twerp!" Jessie retorted.  
  
"Precisely." agreed James. "We're taking these back to the Boss, and when we do we'll finally get our promotions!"  
  
"Stop yer jabberin' and let's get movin'!" Meowth screamed.  
  
"Not so fast!" Delia's voice rang out with an air of authority that surprised everyone, even Delia herself. "My son and his friends Misty and Brock have told me before many times of all the trouble you three have caused them!"  
  
"Who's Misty?" May whispered to Ash.  
  
"I'll tell you later, there's more important things to worry about now," Ash whispered quickly. There was a reason he hadn't told May about Misty yet. He hoped May hadn't noticed the fact that his cheeks had reddened slightly when Misty's name was first mentioned.  
  
Delia continued. "I only wish I knew who your parents were, because if I did you would most certainly pay for all the trouble you've caused these fine young people. Now it's time to teach you a lesson! Are you ready, Mimey?"  
  
Mimey gave a determined nod. "Mr. Mime," it said firmly.  
  
"Oooo," Jessie mocked, "The twerp has no Pokemon to battle with this time so he's getting his mommy to do it for him." Ash could only growl in response. "Well then, maybe we should teach her to properly fear Team Rocket! Go, Seviper!" She tossed a Pokeball, and her snake Pokemon emerged, flicking its tongue.  
  
James tossed a Pokeball of his own. "Cacnea, get in there too!" However, all Cacnea wanted to do was hug James again. James squirmed in pain from the needles on the cactus Pokemon's body. "Yes, that's very nice of you, but if you want to stick pins in someone, go stick it to that Mr. Mime!" He finally managed to shove Cacnea off him and get it to battle.  
  
"Mom, are you sure you can do this?" Ash asked skeptically. The most he had ever seen his mother's Mr. Mime do was use its Light Screen to protect her garden from the fleeing Team Rocket a couple of years before, and using its Barrier attack before it was caught.  
  
"Professor Oak has been giving me battling tips, he's been very nice about it," Delia explained quickly, not taking her eyes off of Team Rocket's Pokemon.  
  
"Enough talk!" Jessie snapped. "Seviper, Poison Tail, now!"  
  
"Cacnea, Pin Missile attack!" added James.  
  
Seviper swung its tail around, ready to strike. Cacnea pointed its arms at Mr Mime and prepared to launch a volley of pins.  
  
"Mimey, use Barrier!" Delia ordered without hesitation. Mr. Mime quickly created a wide wall of light in front of it. Seviper's tail and Cacnea's pins bounced harmlessly off it. Jessie and James stared, open-mouthed. "Now, Mimey, use Psychic!" Mr. Mime concentrated, and had no problem levitating the two opponents, and tossing them back to collide with their trainers. All four of them were knocked back out through the opening in the wall, landing in their balloon.   
  
Meowth, who had hidden while all this was going on, suddenly appeared, looking angry. "So, ya tink ya got a great mind, do ya? Well, let's see how ya do against my Fury Swipes!" he cried, lunging.  
  
Waiting until Meowth was in the perfect position, Delia ordered, "Mimey, use Fire Punch!" Mr. Mime charged its right fist with red-orange Fire energy, and drove it directly into Meowth's stomach, knocking the scratchcat Pokemon back into the balloon with the others. "Now, Mimey, finish them off with Thunderbolt!" Mimey brought its arms together and concentrated. Yellowish electric energy crackled from seemingly its whole body, forming an arc that gave Team Rocket a severe shock. The force of the blast created an explosion, sending them flying.  
  
"We've sunk to a new low..." Jessie complained, in mid-air.  
  
"Yeah...beaten by the twerp's mother..." agreed James.  
  
"Team Rocket's blasting off again!" they both cried as they vanished from sight.  
  
Mimey had no problem using its psychic abilities to free Pikachu and open the glass case. The electric-type jumped back into Ash's arms with a happy "Pikapi!" Ash, May, and Brock claimed their Pokeballs, and made sure the Pokemon that had been in the case were ok.   
  
Nurse Joy, who had watched the whole thing in fear, came over to thank Delia. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been here, Mrs. Ketchum."  
  
"I agree," said Ash sincerely. "You really surprised me, Mom. I can't thank you enough that Pikachu and our other Pokemon are back."  
  
Delia blushed. "Oh, you don't have to thank me, thank Mimey! He was the one that did the battling!"  
  
Ash bent down and thanked the Psychic type, and his friends followed suit.  
  
"Ash, if I'm not intruding...do you mind if I come watch your Gym battle?" Delia asked. "I've watched you in League Tournaments but I've never seen you in a Gym Battle. Then maybe I can join you four at the hot springs after."  
  
"After what you did today, that's no problem at all, Mom," the young trainer replied, hugging her. The five then headed out the door of the Pokemon Center, on their way to the Lavaridge Gym.  
  
-A/N: So, what did you think of this one-shot fic? I always wanted to do a fic where Delia and Mr. Mime save the day...I guess I liked the idea of seeing the mother of a trainer as accomplished as Ash try her hand at battling too. Let me know what you thought! 


End file.
